Atlanta Radio Theatre Company - The Dancer in the Dark (3 of 3)

Summary

---

Podcast Summary

Podcast: Harold's Old Time Radio
Episode: Atlanta Radio Theatre Company – The Dancer in the Dark (3 of 3)
Date: March 19, 2026

---

Episode Overview

The third and final installment of "The Dancer in the Dark," produced by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, delivers a dramatic and supernatural conclusion to Thomas E. Fuller’s original script. The story unites elements of Southern Gothic mystery, ritualistic horror, and myth as the characters confront ancient evils breaking free in the sweltering Georgia night. Professor Cletus Tremaine and a group of locals race against time to prevent the resurrection of a forgotten god, culminating in thrilling ritual conflict at the prehistoric mounds.

---

Key Discussion Points & Plot Developments

1. Ancient Evil and the Curse of the Mounds

• The episode opens with a mythic retelling about an ancient civilization who built monumental mounds and worshipped a being known as the "Dancer in the Dark."
• This god was imprisoned after its followers were wiped out, but recent ritualistic murders and disturbances hint at its impending return.
• Quote: "But gods do not die. And he is there, sleeping, waiting, dreaming. And the dream of the dancer is the heat lightning and the hot, dead air of timeless summer." — Announcer/Narrator (01:07)

2. Tensions Rise: Murder and Misdirection

• Sheriff Conklin accuses John McIntosh of recent killings, but Professor Tremaine insists on McIntosh's innocence.
• A series of revelations point suspicion toward Dr. Raul Carlos Hernandez de la Prego, a mysterious academic with expertise in ancient rites and obsidian knives.
• The group discovers another mutilated body, affirming that ritualistic killings are part of the summoning process for the Dancer.
• Quote: "Someone is trying to set the dancer free with ritual. And doing a damn good job of it, too." — Professor Cletus Tremaine (03:19)

3. The Real Culprit: Dr. De la Prego’s Dark Ritual

• Dr. De la Prego is identified as the "last acolyte" attempting to free the Dancer. He kidnaps Miriam Peterson, a dancer with a mysterious past, to serve as a sacrifice.
• The group finds obsidian sacrificial knives in his room, confirming his intentions.
• Quote: "Obsidian, Sheriff. They're made of obsidian. To be exact, they're museum quality Aztec sacrificial knives. They can be flake, sharp as steel. Perfect for slicing through muscle and bone." — Professor Tremaine (11:42)

4. The Ritual and the Dancer’s Awakening (Climax)

• The group races to the mounds in a desperate attempt to halt the ritual.
• Lightning, ritual music, and surreal phenomena signal the Dancer’s return as Miriam, under the influence, dances at the mound.
• De la Prego, clad in feathered robes, plays a flute to summon the spirit; the Dancer manifests as the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl.
• Quote: "The dancer is Quetzalcoatl... the mast coils began to move, to sway, to twist, flow under and over each other. The dancer had begun his dance, and we were almost destroyed by the force of his rejoicing." — Professor Tremaine (15:14)

Key Sequence (13:35–17:00)

• The mounds’ stones realign and the serpent god rises.
• Miriam is offered as the final sacrifice. Tension crescendos as the heroes debate how to stop the ritual.
• John McIntosh is urged to shoot De la Prego’s pipes, shattering the ritual music and breaking the spell.
• De la Prego is taken by the Dancer, and the threat is quelled.
  • Quote: "Smash the damn pipes… You do it, John. Guess it's your ride. Besides, it always was a better shot than me." — Sheriff Conklin (16:47)

5. Aftermath and Resolution

• The Dancer is banished to his eternal exile, joined forever by the spirit of his last high priest.
• The sun rises, the spell is broken, and the land returns to peace, symbolized by the arrival of autumn.
• Grief, exhaustion, and bittersweet relief settle among the survivors.
• Quote: "But sometimes the signs of winter can be welcome. All round me, the hateful greens of the summer country were changing, being consumed by the reds and yellows of autumn. The spell of the dancer in his last high priest had been broken. And it was good. It was very good." — Professor Tremaine (18:22)

---

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On the ancient myth:
  • "But gods do not die. And he is there, sleeping, waiting, dreaming." — Announcer/Narrator (01:07)
• On the nature of ritual:
  • "Someone is trying to set the dancer free with ritual. And doing a damn good job of it, too." — Professor Tremaine (03:19)
• On the sacrifice:
  • "She is his gift to what's buried beneath the mound. The ultimate sacrifice to a creature that dances. Another dancer." — Professor Tremaine (14:24)
• The identity of the Dancer:
  • "The dancer is Quetzalcoatl." — John McIntosh/Professor Tremaine (15:13–15:14)
• Breaking the ritual:
  • "Smash the damn pipes... You do it, John. Guess it's your ride. Besides, it always was a better shot than me." — Sheriff Conklin (16:47)
• Epilogue reflection:
  • "But sometimes the signs of winter can be welcome... The spell of the dancer in his last high priest had been broken. And it was good. It was very good." — Professor Tremaine (18:22)

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:58–02:45: Ancient legend of the Dancer and the mounds
• 03:00–04:28: McIntosh is suspected, Tremaine explains ritual killings
• 05:39–06:10: Murder of Jubal Elder discovered
• 07:34–08:28: Confrontation at Moffat House; Benedict’s breakdown
• 09:13–10:12: Miriam’s past revealed, her connection to the Dancer
• 11:11–11:53: Discovery of obsidian sacrificial knives
• 12:17–13:39: Journey to the mounds, supernatural phenomena grow
• 13:39–16:46: Climax: Ritual at the mounds, Dancer arises, battle to stop the sacrifice
• 17:00–18:22: Aftermath, Dancer banished, resolution
• 18:22–19:44: Epilogue, cast & credits

---

Conclusion

The finale of "The Dancer in the Dark" weaves Southern folklore with Lovecraftian horror, culminating in a struggle against the supernatural. Through gripping dialogue, eerie soundscapes, and powerful acting, the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company delivers a suspenseful radio drama that honors the traditions of old time radio while telling a chillingly modern tale.

---

Transcript

[Sheriff Conklin]

Foreign.

[Narrator / Artsy Podcast Announcer]

Welcome to Artsy's Podcast, the online venue of the Atlanta Radio Theater Company.

[Announcer / Narrator]

Yes, smarter than the rest of these fools. They're gonna mess with things that hadn't ought to be messed with. They're gonna break open their mounds, cut

[Sheriff Conklin]

it loose from the ground, set it free.

[Announcer / Narrator]

You think it's the drink talking, don't you? Ain't enough moonshine in the state of Georgia to make a man see what I seen.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Ladies and gentlemen, we are the Atlanta Radio Theater Company.

[Narrator / Artsy Podcast Announcer]

In this, our fourth podcast, we bring you the long awaited conclusion to A Dancer in the Dark, written by Thomas E. Fuller.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

So sit back, relax, and enjoy our presentation of the new Old Time Radio.

[John McIntosh]

Now, back in the beginning days, in the early times when the great ones still walked the world and the white man was a dream in the mind

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

of the sun, there dwelt upon the

[Announcer / Narrator]

land a great and wicked people who practiced abominations and evils. From the south, they came and raised up the Serpent Mound and the Eagle Mound and the smaller ones and set the standing stones upright. They were the people of the Dancer, the children of the Bright One. And they worshipped the terrible thing that dwelled on the Great mound. And they called it the Dancer in the Dark. Then the old men, the men of power, gathered the other tribes together and fell upon the people of the Dancer and killed them. All of them. Every man, woman and child. The temples of the Dancer were brought down and the men of power struggled with the dancer in the dark until he was imprisoned in his mound, locked away, buried, and the ground was burned and the place was forgotten. But gods do not die. And he is there, sleeping, waiting, dreaming. And the dream of the dancer is the heat lightning and the hot, dead air of timeless summer. The world has turned since then, and this tale is forgotten. But I know it and you know it. And the Dancer knows it, grandson.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

The Dancer knows the Dancer in the Dark.

[John McIntosh]

That's the story, Professor Tremaine. Just like my granddaddy told me. Or pretty near. The other tribes killed the people of the Dancer and the shamans walled him or it up in the Great Mound.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Now the Dancer is breaking free.

[John McIntosh]

Sure seems to be. But that's the part that has me real confused. You see, my granddaddy told me he couldn't get loose lest the mound was broke open. And they ain't done that yet. But he's loose anyway. He's gotta be. I mean, all those dead animals, the plants at the mounds, mammoth. Miss Annabelle. It's gotta be him, don't it?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Mr. Macintosh. Those deaths were all ritualistic. Someone is trying to set the dancer free with ritual. And doing a damn good job of it, too.

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

But who?

[John McIntosh]

Who'd be crazy enough to do a damn fool thing like that?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Fanatic. Someone obsessed with the subject of the dancer. Someone who would have the resources to piece together the ancient rituals of summoning someone.

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

Who?

[John McIntosh]

What are you talking about, professor?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

An acolyte, Mr. McIntosh. The last acolyte of a lost religion painstakingly serving his last God.

[Sheriff Conklin]

John. John McIntosh.

[John McIntosh]

Oh, hell.

[Sheriff Conklin]

This is Chef John Bell. Hood, Conklin. John, I got this place surrounded. You might as well come on out, save us the trouble of coming in. You come on out now. I promise you a fair trial. Got my word on it.

[John McIntosh]

Well, that's something, I suppose. JB's always been right touchy about his words.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

I have a suggestion.

[John McIntosh]

I'd be real open to one right about now.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

I rather thought you might. Sheriff. Sheriff Conklin, this is Professor Cletus Tremaine.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Oh, my God. Scary, boys. We got us a hostage situation.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Not exactly, Sheriff. Mr. McIntosh is prepared to come out. I am? You are?

[John McIntosh]

I can't say as how I think much of this particular suggestion, Professor. I just hope you know what you're doing, that's all.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

And so do I, son. So do I. We stepped out of the barn, Mr. McIntosh, armed with his shotgun and me with my pipe, and we stepped into a circle of armed men.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Damn.

[John McIntosh]

Why don't I just shoot myself and get it over with?

[Sheriff Conklin]

Put the shotgun down, John. Professor, you just ease on over here.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Shut up. You're here to arrest Mr. McIntosh for the brutal slaying of Mrs. Annabelle Blankenship, aren't you? Well, he didn't do it.

[Sheriff Conklin]

I'll be in the church of Her,

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Sheriff, while we're discussing the matter. The real murderer is still free.

[John McIntosh]

Professor Tremaine.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

You're going to need all the help you can get, Sheriff, real soon. Something terrible is about to happen. Professor Tremaine, I turned to John. He was pointing to something sticking out from under a mass of shrubs by the side of the barn, and it looked very much like an old shoe. Sheriff, If I get Mr. McIntosh to stand perfectly still, would you mind telling me what's under that shrub over there?

[Sheriff Conklin]

Oh, hell. Let's take a look. You men stay back and keep them firearms down. John ain't going anywhere. The worst of a man's time, that's all it is. Wait. Ah, damn.

[John McIntosh]

What's there, jb?

[Sheriff Conklin]

It's Jubal. Jubal Elder. He's cut up like all the others.

[John McIntosh]

But he can't be. I mean, he was fine just a little while ago. It ain't Jubal. It can't be Jubal.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Damn it. I said get those guns down. He ain't very pretty, John.

[John McIntosh]

He never were. JB oh, damn, Jubal, look what they done to you. I should have known you was dead. I should have known they'd never have gotten the drop on me if you'd still been alive.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Sheriff, Mr. McIntosh did not kill Mr. Elder. Someone else did.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Same persons killed Ms. Annabelle and Mammoth

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

and all the other animals. Who told you to look for Mr. McIntosh in this old barn, Sheriff?

[Sheriff Conklin]

Oh, that little foreign guy staying up

[John McIntosh]

at the Moffat house.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Dr. De la Prager?

[Sheriff Conklin]

That's him. Said there is something suspicious over here. Thought I might like to know. He's a strange little fellow.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Sheriff, you have no idea just how strange my Mexican colleague really is.

[Elizabeth / Ms. Moffat]

Professor Tremaine. Professor Tremaine.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Now what?

[Elizabeth / Ms. Moffat]

Oh, thank God I found you. Professor, you've got to get back to the boarding house right now. That madman has a gun.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

We'd better get going, Sheriff, before Della Prego forces me to find another student assistant.

[Elizabeth / Ms. Moffat]

Dr. Della Prego? What are you talking about? It's not Dr. Della Prego. It's Dr. Peterson. Benedict, he found out his wife was having an.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

An affair with Dr. Della Prigo. Sheriff, I would earnestly suggest that we get the hell back to Ms. Moffat's.

[Sheriff Conklin]

You men get back in the trucks. We got some moving to do. Uh, John. John, we gotta go now.

[John McIntosh]

It don't seem right just leaving Jubal here like this. He wasn't much, but he was my friend.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Oh, Jubal.

[John McIntosh]

To understand.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Never was one for appearances anyway.

[Elizabeth / Ms. Moffat]

Will you people come on?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

When we finally reached Moffat House, it was pallid in the heat lightning. Something was happening because of it. An ancient terror was breaking free of the earth. The dancer was breaking free. The dancer in the dark.

[Elizabeth / Ms. Moffat]

Jerry. Jerry, are you all right? Jerry, you answer me.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Elizabeth. Oh, thank God. Professor Tremaine. Ms. Moffat's locked herself in her room. And Dr. Peterson stalking all over the parlor with a gun.

[Narrator / Artsy Podcast Announcer]

A real gun.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

I was afraid he was going to kill himself or me. But I guess I'd better go and talk to the boy. I sincerely hope that you are taking notes, Ms. Garrett. The least I expect out of this is a decent obituary.

[Elizabeth / Ms. Moffat]

First class Professor.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Wonderful. I'm too old for heroics. I really am. Benedict.

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

I don't want you here, Uncle Cletus.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Then you shouldn't have sent me A train ticket. I didn't know you owned a gun.

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

She left me, Uncle Cletus. She left me for him. She walked right out the door and didn't even look back.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

And Dr. De la Prage, he smiled at me.

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

I wanted to kill him. I couldn't. I couldn't even move. Then he talked to me. He stood there and he talked to me.

[Dr. Raul Carlos Hernandez de la Prego]

Very important, my friend. But I suppose I really shouldn't expect you to fully appreciate it. Your wife has a talent. One that you're probably not even fully aware of. But I was aware of it from the first moment I saw her. And I will use it. Well, use it to wake the bright one. The dancer will live again, thanks to your charming, charming wife. Remember that in the times to come. Goodbye, Dr. Peterson.

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

And then they were gone. I did nothing. All I could see was that damn heat lightning flickering through the windows. Lost her, Uncle Cletus. I don't even know how.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Listen to me, Benedict. Was there any music? Benedick. What? Think hard. Was there any music?

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

Music? Yes, now that you mention it. Modelo Prego was playing its damn flute. Wait a minute. No, he wasn't. He didn't. Didn't even have it in his hand. But there was music.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

There would have to be music, now, wouldn't that Stands to reason. Even more than the deaths and the blood and all the rest of it. They would have to be music. Music. Why didn't you ever want to talk about what Miriam did before you two got married?

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

What?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Never asked that before.

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

Don't know.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Why. Tell me what she did.

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

Well, tonight, Benedict, tonight she was a student of. When she got married, she gave it up. I mean, how would it look if people found out that the wife of a serious scholar was a. Yeah, was.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Was a what? A cannibal? A street walker? An axe murderer? What?

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

Dancer?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

A dance. Oh, sweet. Sheriff Conklin.

[Sheriff Conklin]

All right, don't anybody move. Just ease that gun down on the table. Dr. Peterson, everything's gonna be.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Oh, for the love. Give me the gun, Benedict. What?

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

Oh, I'm sorry, Uncle Cletus. I forgot I had it here.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Thank you.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Well, that sure was easy. Dr. Peterson, I hereby arrest you for the murders of Annabel Segris Blankenship and Jubal Elder.

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

Elder's dead.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Not him. Sheriff, Dr. De la Prageo is your murderer and worse. I suggest you search his room. No matter what happens, he won't be coming back to it.

[Sheriff Conklin]

All right. To think I can do that. Ain't legal.

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

I can.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

No, wait.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Just a Minute.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

It took a great deal of concentration, but we managed to ignore the sheriff and repair to the rooms vacated by the suddenly mysterious Doct. Dr. De la Prego. Within a matter of minutes we had reduced the neatly arranged rooms into total chaos. For a long time there was nothing. And then. Hey. We found something, Professor Tremaine.

[Elizabeth / Ms. Moffat]

It was in the bed between the springs and the mattress. Do you think it might be important?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Let's hope so.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Just little old leather case with a

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

note addressed to me. Arrogant little man, wasn't he?

[Dr. Raul Carlos Hernandez de la Prego]

To my dear friend and colleague, Professor Cletus Germain, from his student and admirer, Dr. Raul Carlos Hernandez de la Prego. A keepsake. Or a relic, whichever he would prefer.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Oh, they're. They're knives, aren't they?

[Sheriff Conklin]

Nah, nah, can't be. They're stone.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Obsidian, Sheriff. They're made of obsidian. To be exact, they're museum quality Aztec sacrificial knives. They can be flake, sharp as steel. Perfect for slicing through muscle and bone. Wouldn't you say?

[Sheriff Conklin]

Yeah. Yeah, I guess it would.

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

He's going to kill Miriam.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

That would be preferable to what he plans to do. Benedict means to use her to set the free the thing in the mounds. He means to. To free the dancer in the dark. Tonight. Chef Conklin. We have to get to the mounds immediately.

[Sheriff Conklin]

All I gots. Me and John. All the others went home.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

And me and Benedict and Jerry.

[Elizabeth / Ms. Moffat]

And me.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Elizabeth.

[Elizabeth / Ms. Moffat]

No.

[Sheriff Conklin]

This is crazy. You know that, don't you?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

And so is De la Prego, Sheriff. We roared through the night. If you could still call it night. The heat lightning was almost constant now, ripping through the warm dead air, clawing its way through the corpse green trees of Blankenship. Something was stirring deep in the shadows. Waking, uncoiling, yearning upwards. Out of the ground we could feel it. A voiceless exultation, a soundless shout that rose and ripple with a heat lightning.

[John McIntosh]

The dancer's coming. The way is prepared and the dancer is coming.

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

Can't you get this thing to go any faster?

[Sheriff Conklin]

Keep the damn wheels on it.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Is this what your grandfather warned you about, Mr. McIntosh?

[John McIntosh]

It's breaking loose. I can feel it breaking loose.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Oh God.

[John McIntosh]

It's like it's breaking out of my heart.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

It's evil.

[John McIntosh]

We've got to stop it.

[Elizabeth / Ms. Moffat]

There they are. There's the mounds.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Oh my God.

[John McIntosh]

Look what he's done. Just look what he's done.

[Announcer / Narrator]

No.

[Sheriff Conklin]

No. Wow.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

While the Toa mounds had changed, they had lost their vagueness and stood knife sharp, imperfect. From the mound of the serpent to the mound of the Eagle Astrode, a parallel march of standing stones, each exactly 6ft tall, each exactly 10ft apart. And the unholy glare of the heat lightning Malotor mounds had restored itself.

[John McIntosh]

He's close. Can't you feel him? He's close. He's close.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

In the center of the broad level courtyard stood Dr. Raul Carl Hernandez de la Prego, late of the University of Mexico, was dressed in flowing robes. Robes made of feathers. The colors rippled about him, brilliant against the monochrome brightness of the heat lightning. He played his flute. He played it well. And in front of him, in the base of the mound of the serpent, a white figure flowed in time to the music.

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

Miriam.

[Elizabeth / Ms. Moffat]

Miriam.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Miriam Peterson danced before the mound of the serpent, his strong and supple body twisting and turning with a grace that was as unnaturally. It was beautiful. And she offered her naked loveliness to a glistening light that sparkled on top of the mound. Why is she doing this?

[Sheriff Conklin]

Why?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

She isn't. She's drugged. On the music. It's all ritual. The deaths, the mutilations, the blight, the music. They're offerings. Part of the ritual that he needs to set his God free. There's only one element left to break this prison open. The final sacrifice. She is his gift to what's buried beneath the mound. The ultimate sacrifice to a creature that dances. Another dancer.

[John McIntosh]

He's through. Can't just see him. There. Up there. The seals are broke. The dancer's free.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Top the mound. Something slowly began to take form, something that uncoiled loop after loop of its feathered body before us. The dancer in the dark had returned to his last temple, summoned by his last high priest. The great feathered serpent became more distinct as his colored segments eyes stood into the air over the mound.

[John McIntosh]

Quetzalcoatl.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

The dancer is Quetzalcoatl. Professor Tremaine. Now the mast coils began to move, to sway, to twist, flow under and over each other. The dancer had begun his dance, and we were almost destroyed by the force of his rejoicing. And the great green eyes opened and fell upon the other dancer. And the huge head began to lower toward the final sacrifice. Keep away from my wife. Away. Keep away. Will you get down, you idiot. Now it knows we're here.

[John McIntosh]

The priest looks at us. He no longer pipes. Only to the dancer.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

De la Prego was indeed looking at us. The pipe never left his lips. He played as he turned. Couldn't stop playing. Not before the manifestation was complete. And the tops of the stones blazed. And the heat flared at Us. Hit the dirt. Damn you. Damn you.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Damn you.

[Elizabeth / Ms. Moffat]

Get down. Dr. Pearson, please get down.

[Sheriff Conklin]

He must have hit that damn thing least a couple of times.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

It's notoriously hard to bar the gods with guns, Sheriff. Miriam. The glittering green eyes of the dancer were open, dreaming like brilliant against the heat lightning. The massive scale feathers ruffled gently as the grey jaws opened. The burning head began to lower toward the naked woman who danced before it and the piper who played for it. The piper. The piper.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Kill him.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

I know that would stop it. He's beyond that. Remember back at the house, Benedict? The pipes plead without him. Smash. Smash the pipes. Smash the damn pipes.

[Sheriff Conklin]

You do it, John. Guess it's your ride. Besides, it always was a better shot than me.

[John McIntosh]

Yeah, I guess it is. This is for you, Jubal. Just for you.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

And the pipes of the piper exploded in his hands. And the music stopped. And Miriam Peterson awoke to her nakedness and to the beautiful horror that floated above her. I'm coming, Miriam. Now it all broke loose. My idiot nephew was running. Called the courtyard, reported his stoiatical wife. But they were secondary now. The piper raised his bleeding hands and began to cherish, to hold the ritual together. Too late, Doctor. You're too late. Too late. Oh, God. The dancer descended and the golden glow surrounded the piper. The piper who pathetically raised his blood streaked hands to ward off the God he had worked so hard to free. And then it was over. The spell broken. The dancer forced back into his eternal exile. But not alone. Not this time. The dancer would never be alone again. Till the end of time. He would dance to the music of his last high priest forever.

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

Miriam. I'm sorry. I am so sorry. I love you. I love you so much. I love you.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

I stood there as the dawn began to break. The heat lightning was gone, burned away by the greater light of the reborn sun. My nephew knelt by his sobbing wife, gently wrapping her shivering body in his coat. Mr. McIntosh and Sheriff Conklin stood by the overheated car. Two tired and spent men, Jerry and Elizabeth, had slumped down to the ground and sat holding each other. Malatoa Mounds was once again as it had been for centuries. I am an old man. My life is drawing to a close. But sometimes the signs of winter can be welcome. All round me, the hateful greens of the summer country were changing, being consumed by the reds and yellows of autumn. The spell of the dancer in his last high priest had been broken. And it was good. It was very good.

[Announcer / Narrator]

The Dancer in the Dark was written by Thomas E. Fuller and directed by Doug Kay. The music was created by Terry Sanders. It starred Brad Strickland as Professor Cletus Tremaine, Joyce Lee as Annabelle, Ron N. Butler as Benedict, Dina Friedman as Miriam,

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Terry Sanders as Professor de la Prego, Doug Kay as Jewel Elder and the Old Indian, Daniel Taylor as McIntosh, Thomas E. Fuller as JB Karen Barrett as

[Announcer / Narrator]

Elizabeth, Phil Carter as Jerry, Matt Sacato as Harris and Karen Wilbanks as Ms. Moffat.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Our floor manager was Amanda Baskin. Live sound effects were performed by Lily Sonya and by Jeff Baskin. Tape sound effects were created by Henry Howard. The sound engineers were David Carter and Bill Rich.

[Announcer / Narrator]

This show was produced by William Allen Rich and we are your announcers, Doug

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Kaye and Phil Carter.

[Announcer / Narrator]

And we are the Atlanta Radio Theater Company.

[Narrator / Artsy Podcast Announcer]

Intro music is by Alton Leonard. Intro sound clips are of Tamara Morton and Doug Kay.

[Benedict / Dr. Peterson]

For more information about Artsy and how

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

you can order recordings of our studio productions, please visit www.artc.org.

[Narrator / Artsy Podcast Announcer]

the city could be anywhere or nowhere. It exists as a collection of sounds, the cacophonous symphony that creates the illusion of millions of people going about their lives. The only name the city has is the Loop, and only one man really understands it. He is a private detective with a gift. A gift for hearing the nuance, the timbre, the ambiance that separates a featured player from an osilherd. A man named Johnny Raven. Next week on Artsy's podcast, Blues for Johnny Raven by Thomas E. Fuller.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

All material is copyright by its creators or the Atlanta Radio Theater Company artc.org.